While New England fans are counting down the days until Emmanuel Sanders possibly becomes a member of the Patriots, those in Pittsburgh are wondering if the Steelers would be better served with the third-round pick.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Ed Bouchette looked at the situation from a Steelers; perspective Thursday morning and concludes that there’s no way Pittsburgh would trade a third-round pick for Sanders and thinks the team should take what it can get.

“Matching the Sanders deal might preclude them from signing, say, Ahmad Bradshaw. Or it might force them to restructure a contract they do not want to restructure, that of Troy Polamalu. If the Steelers really wanted to pay Sanders that kind of money, they could have put a second-round tender on him, which would have cost them $2.023 million. It looks as though they felt Sanders was not worth that much.”

… snip …

“Put it this way, if there was another receiver of Emmanuel Sanders’ ability on another team and he was a restricted free agent with a third-round tender, would the Steelers give up a third-rounder for him? Not on your life. Would they trade a third-rounder for a receiver of Sanders’ ability? No.”

The deal and Sander's potential fit were already covered here. To recap the situation, the Patriots have made Sanders a one-year offer worth $2.5 million. The Steelers, counting the $1.3 million tender they placed on Sanders, have about $2 million in cap space.

Now, the Steelers have until Sunday to decide whether they want to match the offer of let Sanders go for a third-round pick.